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March/April, 2003 We left French Wells on March 6th, anchored that night at Little Harbor, and the next day we headed back to Clarence Town. During our trip, Rankin caught a good size Cero Mackerel. We were more than a little excited, because it meant fish for dinner. Once we arrived in Clarence Town, Rankin promptly went to work on filleting the fish (with the help of Andrew, a local mechanic) while I cleaned up the boat for our visitor, Ari Perlman.
Later that afternoon, Ari arrived and was excited to hear the news about the catch of the day. He will be sailing with us for a week or so while on spring break ... we can never have too many good crewmembers. Since he's a better swimmer than Rankin or myself, Ari has agreed to do the lobster fishing for us -- YEAH!!! That evening, Andrew (mechanic/fisherman/cook) was nice enough to join us for dinner and show me how the cook the mackerel -- Bahamian style. It was delicious, and we still have a lot more left. Though, I can't say I could ever prepare it as well again ... I'll give it a whirl. Thanks for all your help Andrew.
We thought it would be a good idea to visit a couple of the other islands while Ari was visiting. So, on Sunday, March 9th, we left Clarence Town and headed for Flamingo Bay at Rum Cay. Rankin and I had just been to Flamingo Bay, and thought that Ari might also enjoy the snorkeling and beauty of the island. Besides snorkeling, we pretty much just kicked back and relaxed during our stay at Flamingo Bay. On Tuesday, March 11th, we were on the go again, and headed for Conception Island which is northwest of Rum Cay. During our trip, we had perfect conditions to use the spinnaker, a light weight sail. Ari helped raise this sail, and did a splendid job. We arrived at Conception Island around 2:00 pm and were surprised to find about 16 other boats. Though this island wasn't as secluded as Rum Cay, it is a pristine and beautiful marine park which is protected ... so no fishing. Though we couldn't fish, we did manage to do some exploring in the creeks and snorkeling on a nearby reef.
We left Conception Island on March 13th and headed to Georgetown. Unfortunately, we only spent a couple of days in Georgetown (at this time), because we had to head back to Long Island. Ari's trip quickly came to a close and we dropped him off at the airport on Sunday, March 16h, but not before he caught this barracuda.
We had to throw it back, but it was still exciting to watch the catch. Ari returned to school and we stayed a few more days anchored in Salt Pond off Long Island then sailed to Georgetown, Exuma. It was an excellent day sail (but, no fish) and we anchored off Georgetown for about a week. We spent a little time exploring and a lot of time running errands (i.e. provisioning, sending emails, updating website, working, etc.) Dick and Sue from Omega needed a little assistance with their laptop, so we kindly offered our services. We were able to spend a little time with them and thoroughly enjoyed the experience ... very nice people. We have found that within the cruising community, you can usually find someone to help and that's been a pleasant surprise. Besides running errands and such, we did manage to see a beautiful rainbow which we captured below not to mention several fabulous sunsets (which is not uncommon).
Though we only stayed a week in Georgetown, we were ready to head North again. So ... on Thursday, March 27th, we hoisted our anchor and sailed off to Lee Stocking Island. |
